How A Hairstylist Became One Of TikTok Shop’s Biggest Livestream Stars And Surpassed 1M Orders

Three years ago, Mandys Peña was a hairstylist with a small beauty business and online following. Today, she is one of TikTok Shop’s biggest beauty success stories. The founder of Simply Mandys became the first creator on TikTok Shop to generate $1 million in gross merchandise value during a single eight-hour livestream, a feat she has since repeated multiple times. Her self-funded haircare brand now derives roughly 85% of its revenue from TikTok Shop, and recently surpassed 1 million orders.

What makes Peña’s rise particularly noteworthy isn’t simply the scale of the business. It’s the audience she built it with. As many brands focus primarily on English-speaking consumers, Peña built her community through Spanish-language content and livestreams, speaking directly to an audience she understands intimately as a Mexican immigrant, salon owner and hairstylist with more than two decades of experience behind the chair.

The timing is significant. Hispanic consumers represent nearly 20% of the population in the United States and command approximately $2.7 trillion in buying power, according to NielsenIQ. The firm reports that Hispanic consumers are among the most influential growth drivers in beauty, particularly in haircare. Yet relatively few American beauty brands have built businesses specifically around Spanish-speaking consumers at scale. For Peña, TikTok Shop provides an unusually effective vehicle for doing exactly that.

Rather than treating livestreams as infomercials, she shows up with the ease and spontaneity of a salon appointment. Her sessions often last eight hours, during which she answers questions and speaks candidly about her life, business and products. The approach has helped transform Simply Mandys from a stylist-created haircare line into a breakout beauty brand in livestream commerce. Heading into Simply Mandys’ fourth year, Peña is navigating a new challenge: evolving from creator to CEO while preparing the business for its next stage of growth. 

In a conversation with Beauty Independent, Peña discusses building trust through livestreaming, why she ignores most TikTok Live playbooks, working alongside her husband and CFO Sven Greany and where she sees Simply Mandys heading next.

How did your journey in beauty begin?

I grew up in Mexico, in Tepatitlan, Jalisco, and I started working in a hair salon when I was 16 years old. I was an assistant in a small garage salon, sweeping floors and washing hair. That early experience sparked the passion for hairstyling and led me to work in different salons.

When I was 20, I moved to the United States looking for a better life. I went to cosmetology school in Selma, California, got my license and worked in a salon for about a year before opening my own salon.

I always loved the beauty industry, but I also always wanted to have something of my own. I never liked working for somebody else. I was 23 years old when I opened my first salon, and that’s really where my entrepreneurial journey started.

You’ve become one of TikTok Shop’s biggest success stories. What made you embrace livestream selling so early?

I was selling before TikTok Shop existed. I had created a small cosmetics line, and before TikTok Shop came around, I was doing TikTok Lives and directing people to my website. I would tell them, “Go to my website, use this coupon code and get a discount.” People were already buying from me because they wanted that connection.

When TikTok Shop launched, we were among the first people taking advantage of it. It’s a huge part of our business, about 85% of our revenue. When I could start doing Lives, people could purchase there without leaving the platform. I always say that TikTok Live feels like opening my store every day. A traditional store opens up at 9 in the morning and customers physically come in. My livestream is my storefront. Every day, I open the doors and welcome people in.

What do you think most brands misunderstand about TikTok Shop?

People think it’s just another sales channel. To me, it’s about connection. It’s very important to be authentic and organic.

I treat people like friends, and it’s constant communication. I read all their comments, answer their questions in real time and listen to what they need. They hear from the person who created the product. That creates a different level of trust. Many brands are selling products on TikTok, but customers don’t necessarily have direct access to the founder or CEO. My customers do. 

What does a successful livestream look like?

My Lives are a combination of entertainment, education, community, discounts and product knowledge. In the beginning, TikTok tried to give me a structure for my livestreams. They asked me to say certain things and follow a specific format, and I never liked that.

I don’t want my Lives to feel scripted or like I’m pushing people to buy. Some brands come in with all kinds of strategies and plans, and they don’t get the same results. I always get asked what the secret sauce is. I wish I knew, but I’m just being myself. 

Do you think TikTok Shop is changing retail?

Absolutely. I think TikTok Shop is taking business away from Amazon and other retailers because the experience is different. When someone reviews a product on video, you can see how it actually works. It’s very different from reading written reviews.

If you’re selling a shirt, you can show how it stretches, how it fits, and what body type it’s good for. If it’s a beauty product, you can see the results. People feel more comfortable purchasing because they’re getting information in real time. 

How much planning goes into your Lives?

Almost none. That’s what drives my team crazy. For major campaigns like Black Friday, everyone wants meetings and training sessions and planning documents. Meanwhile, I’m saying, “Just trust me.” For daily Lives, I don’t plan at all. I just show up and talk. People see the real me. Some days I’m very happy. Some days I’m stressed. Some days I’m tired. They see all of it. I think that’s why they trust me.

On my daily Lives, there are around 1,200 people actively participating and interacting with me. For major campaign Lives, it can be 8,000, 10,000 or even 20,000 people at a time. Over the course of a long livestream, millions of people may watch portions of it. We had one Live where more than 20 million people watched throughout the event.

You built this business primarily through Spanish-language content. How important has that been to your success?

It’s very important because I’m speaking to my community in the way that feels most natural to me. I don’t try to be somebody else. I don’t try to change who I am. When I go live, people know they’re getting the real Mandys. We’re talking about beauty, hair, family, life and everything else. It feels natural. I think people appreciate that authenticity.

Language has always been an intentional part of who I am and who Simply Mandys is. Connecting with our Latinx community in Spanish is something I’m very passionate about since it’s so personal to me. I do try to incorporate some English into my sessions, so Simply Mandys continues to grow and reach new audiences, but I haven’t done fully English livestreams yet.

I’m always looking for ways to be more inclusive and show more people how Simply Mandys can change the way they feel about their hair, so an English livestream is a great way to introduce people to me.

What has it been like learning to become a CEO while the business is growing this quickly?

That’s probably the hardest part. I was a hairstylist. I didn’t go to school to become a CEO. I didn’t study entrepreneurship. I didn’t know anything about campaigns, PR agencies, strategy or finance.

As the company grows, I’m learning all of those things very quickly. Creating products and selling products isn’t hard for me. What’s hard is learning how to build an organization. You need the right people. You need systems. You need strategies. At the beginning, I did everything myself. Now I’m learning how to delegate, and that’s difficult because nobody is going to do things exactly the way I would do them.

How many employees do you have today and what are their key functions?

We have 12 employees. The team works together to drive brand growth, customer satisfaction and operations. I lead the vision, product development and brand presence. I handle product development, formulas, fragrances, design, branding and everything creative. The team supports daily operations, social media, affiliate management, customer service, partnerships and fulfillment. They create a seamless experience from product creation to customer delivery. 

My husband Sven is the CFO. He oversees finance, inventory and operations, all the business strategy and growth. He joined the Army at 17 and later spent 25 years in the automotive industry. When the business started growing quickly, I told him I needed help, and he left his career and joined Simply Mandys full time. I don’t know much about finance, and he’s taught me a lot. 

Running a business together is definitely a journey. People always tell you not to work with your spouse because it’s hard. And they’re right. At the beginning, it was difficult because we talked about business all the time. Eventually we realized that wasn’t healthy. Now we’ve learned to divide responsibilities and trust each other. We trust each other in our respective areas. Once we learned how to do that, everything became much easier.

How has spending more than 20 years behind the chair shaped your approach to product development?

It’s everything. When you’re a hairstylist, you know immediately whether a product is good or not. If I wash somebody’s hair with a shampoo, I can tell after one use whether I like it. I know what works. I know what doesn’t work. That’s helped me tremendously when creating formulas because I have very specific expectations for how a product should perform. I always tell customers they’re going to know if they love my product the first time they use it.

How hands-on are you when it comes to product development?

I’m very involved. I speak directly with the chemists and explain exactly what I want the product to feel like and which ingredients I consider important. Sometimes it takes many rounds of samples because they don’t understand my vision immediately. I’ll tell them, “No, this is too oily,” or “This doesn’t feel right.” I’m extremely specific. It can take a long time to get the formula exactly where I want it.

Tell us about your hero product, I Don’t Give A Frizz Leave-In Spray.

I created our hero product, I Don’t Give A Frizz Leave-In Spray, because I was looking for one product that could do everything. When my salon clients used to ask me what they needed, I had to recommend a heat protectant and something different for frizz, shine and softness. People don’t want to buy four different products, so I created one product that addressed all those needs.

It contains keratin, helps control frizz, provides heat protection, leaves the hair silky and shiny, and works across multiple hair types. It’s lightweight and easy to use. You can apply it to wet or dry hair. Everything about it came from my experience as a hairstylist and understanding what women actually need.

Where do you see Simply Mandys in five years?

I see us in retail. Over the next year, a lot of our focus will be on building the right strategy for retail expansion. In five years, I see Simply Mandys as a recognized haircare brand that people can find in stores, not just on TikTok Shop.

I started with a dream inside a small salon, but I truly believe people are going to walk into stores, see the Simply Mandys name and know exactly what it stands for. We currently have 12 haircare SKUs available. There are a couple of other products on our site, but haircare is the core of Simply Mandys, and we’ll continue to bring new developments.

What would you tell someone who’s hesitant to put themselves out there online?

Don’t be scared. People are afraid of criticism. They’re afraid of putting themselves out there. They’re afraid to show the world what they’re building, but if you have a business, you have to open the doors. If you make cookies, post videos about your cookies. If you make beauty products, show people why they’re special.

I was scared when I started. Honestly, I’m still scared sometimes, but if you really want something, you have to do it anyway. One day, the same people criticizing you may end up being inspired by what you’ve built.